PowerPoint is a wonderful that presenters can use to make their presentations more effective. Below are five tips you can apply when using PowerPoint in your presentation:

Make sure that the images you use stand out. They should be relevant which means they support your goal and the message your conveying to your audience. This way, they can easily remember the lesson you’re teaching even long after your presentation is done.

Go for simplicity. The more simple the slides, the better. Avoid using complicated graphs and charts as well as long texts.

Make sure that your audience knows the meaning of the acronyms and difficult terms you use.

Make sure your audience can resonate and relate well with your audience. Don’t just use general photos. If you are talking to a group of teachers, use photos of different schools they know or pictures of the campus where they teach.

In PowerPoint, do you find yourself using the same commands over and over? You can be more efficient in your work if you customize the interface in PowerPoint. So instead of finding commands that you use often and clicking them so many times, you can actually customize not only the Quick Access Toolbar (usually at the top left of your screen) but the entire ribbon as well.

Last week, I’ve shared with you how to collaborate in PowerPoint presentations. This is part II – another way that you can make your collaboration. You can actually post your presentation on Office Online (which was previously called Office Web Apps). Though the online version of PowerPoint is lacking several features present in the desktop version, simple editing can still be done.

How do you use Office Online?

You just have to start your computer by first using the desktop version of PowerPoint and then you go to the online version.

Office Online will let editors do their edits simultaneously. This way, all concerned can work on the presentation all at the same time. You can see all the changes being made which will make presentation collaboration easier.

Do you want to include animations in your presentations? Perhaps you can try adding cool animations that are easy to do. Then why not try using transitions! You might not thinks of them as animations but they actually are!

What are transitions? Transitions are animations used between slides — which in turn introduce a new slide. I remember some presentations in the past that used this but most of the time, the presenter only used one or a few kinds of transitions. This time, PowerPoint 2010 and 2013 offer a lot of other advantages when using the new animations they have provided.

Do you know how to start playing a video while using a remote when presenting?

For instance, there’s a video that must be played during your presentation but you want it done after a certain slide is displayed. This will serve as an explanation and a validation of a point on your slide. How do you do this?

Moreover, you have a remote so you can click it and avoid walking over to your laptop just to play a video. This remote will have you click a ceryain slide but not a particular object on it. How do you do this?

There’s a new book out in the market called Master Presenter. It’s a collection of articles from presentation experts all over who have contributed to the Presentationxpert newsletter over the years.

Here, you will find a huge wealth of knowledge pertaining to numerous and valuable topics like design, messaging, PowerPoint techniques, persuasion, media, delivery, and storytelling. If you’re into presentations, you’ll most likely recognize many of the names on the list.